William D’Souza of Globe Travels Delivers Talk at Canada India Strategic Council of Ottawa
Canada: To celebrate the World Tourism Day the Indian fraternity of Canada representing various business including Travel and Tourism Industry, the Canadian Business entrepreneurs and tourism Industry heads were invited to attend the same. William D’Souza was the only one invited from India to address the Canada India Strategic Council of Ottawa as a special invitee representing Travel Agents Association of India(TAAI) and being Director of United Federation of Travel Agent’s Association (UFTAA) at The Westin Hotel, 11 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa.
The Canadian Govt was represented by Blake Richards, Shadow Cabinet Minister for Small Business, Export Promotion and Tourism; Dr Harpreet S Kochhar, Assistant Deputy Minister(Operations) Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada, and Members of Parliament, Sukh Dhaliwal, Ramesh Sangha, Sonia Sidhu and Chandra Arya.
While briefing William said that TAAI which was founded within 4 years of our Independence in 1951 having 2500+ members and being one of the oldest travel association of India, we work very closely with the central and state Governments. TAAI has signed more than 25 MOU’s with various countries to promote tourism and the recent one was on September 05, 2018 in Bombay with Destination Canada the official Tourism organization of Canada to promote tourism to Canada from every city through more than 500 travel agents. The Roadshows to promote tourism are already in progress. UFTAA is working very closely with International Air Transport Association (IATA) and working closely with the UNO in its World Tourism Organisation has promoted many countries with tourism.
In his address, William stressed the need for simplifying the visit visa process and to speed up the same for Indians to support tourism to Canada. Today, unfortunately, Canadian consulates take more than 3-4 weeks to process visit visa to Indians. During this period the passport of the applicant will be with the consulate. To avoid this Canada has now started the process of online visit visa applications wherein the photocopy of passport to be submitted and once the visit visa is approved, need to send the original passport to endorse the visit visa. Canada receives the highest number of students from India since Canada is the only country where the students after their studies are allowed to remain in the country in gainful employment and subsequently to qualify to apply for Permanent Residence leading to becoming the Canadian Citizen within a short time of 4-6 years. He also stressed the need of Canadians visiting India to understand the culture, heritage, natural beauty, beaches of India and to learn the physical wellness.
Last week William also attended the Indian Tourism Meet held at New Delhi which was a very special meet organized by the Ministry of Tourism exclusively for foreign delegates and William was the special invitee. William had a fruitful interaction with the Secretary of Tourism, Government of India and with Dr K J Alphonse, Hon’ble Minister for Tourism. William will be attending a few more meetings at various parts of the world to attract tourism to India especially in Mangalore.
Globe travels has always been in the forefront to promote tourism and because of its continuous efforts to attract tourism in Mangalore, today the New Mangalore Port is receiving more than 40 cruise ships visiting Mangalore bringing over 40 thousand tourists to Mangalore, Moodbidri, Karkala and Udupi. William D’Souza has been the main instrument to set up the Pilikula Golf course and the Indian Red Cross Society branch at Mangalore as the President of Rotary Club of Mangalore Central.